1 Samuel 21:1–15
21 1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 21:2And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 21:3Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 21:4And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 21:5And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 21:6So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
7 21:7Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
8 21:8Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” 9 21:9And the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
10 21:10And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 21:11And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 21:12And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 21:13So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 21:14Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 21:15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
1 Ch 21:2 in Hebrew
Section Overview: David Flees from Saul
David, aged about twenty-four, now begins a period of his life in which he is perpetually on the run from Saul. The accounts in 1 Samuel 21 and 22 contain four sections arranged in an ABBA pattern. The outer sections tell of David’s interaction with Ahimelech and the priests of Nob (21:1–9; 22:6–23), while the central sections portray David the fugitive, first in Gath (21:10–15) and then in the wilderness and in Moab (22:1–5).
This proves to be a difficult and testing time for David, as it is far from obvious that he will ascend the throne as the Lord had promised. His life is constantly under threat from Saul, and David has to learn to rely on the Lord. Indeed, this growth is one of the differences between these two chapters. At first David attempts to cope with his situation by using his own wits and resourcefulness, but in chapter 22 he displays greater reliance on God.
David’s scheming raises questions concerning how far it is legitimate for him to go in deceiving others. When he seeks assistance from the high priest, Ahimelech, at Nob, he is less than open with him about his circumstances (21:1–9), and his course of action has disastrous consequences for the others who are involved only indirectly. When David seeks refuge in Gath, where he dupes the Philistine king, it leads to humiliation for him personally (vv. 10–15). David’s mistakes are used by God to bring him to a higher level of usefulness in the Lord’s service, training him to avoid the deleterious attitudes of arrogance and self-sufficiency displayed by Saul. The headings of Psalms 34 and 56 place their origin during this period and show that David does learn from his misconduct. The peril to which he exposes himself brings him back to trust in God (Ps. 56:3) and to gratitude for the preservation extended to him (Ps. 56:13).
Section Outline
Response
In his controversy with the Pharisees over Sabbath observance (Matt. 12:1–8; Mark 2:23–28), Jesus speaks approvingly of Ahimelech’s dealings with David described in this chapter. When there is conflict between the obligations of the moral law and the rituals of the ceremonial law, the latter must give way to the former. Ahimelech was right to deal mercifully with David and meet his need for food despite the restrictions of Leviticus 24:5–9 regarding the holy bread. Ritual institutions, even the most sacred, must yield place to the works of necessity and mercy involved in meeting human needs.
It is less clear that David’s conduct on this occasion is above reproach. Whatever the ethics of concealment from an enemy, it does not appear that David acts honorably in not telling Ahimelech of the danger he is liable to be in if he helps him. Under the stress of the precarious and dangerous existence forced on him as a fugitive from Saul, David’s judgment is impaired and his conduct less than straightforward. He forgets the need to acknowledge God in all his ways and instead leans on his own understanding (Prov. 3:5–6), which leaves him exposed to unintended consequences that human wisdom could not foresee. Indeed, David’s folly in going to Gath only intensifies his difficulties. God, however, shows that he is ready to respond to cries for help (Ps. 34:6). Though David subsequently has cause to regret going to Nob in light of the slaughter Saul perpetrates as a reprisal (1 Sam. 22:22), the text describes but neither condemns nor justifies David’s conduct. What is certain is that despite human shortcomings, God’s purposes are achieved.